Ayurveda at Ayush

I have been interested in the idea of Ayush since I first heard about it – a collabortion between Arya Vaidya Pharmacy in Coimbatore and Unilever. I was tempted to visit the local centre in Vashi for a while now, but somehow I was sceptical about the idea of corporatized Ayurveda. I mean, how authentic can branded, neatly packaged ayurveda be. Not for me, well dressed (in spotless clothes – where does all the oil go?) women and feather touch massages with pleasant smelling, even fragrant oils. That is cosmetic, a feel-good massage if you will, even when sold as the “ancient science of ayurveda” – as it is all over Kerala and Goa. For me, the genuine stuff is that which is oily, smelly and otherwise sensorially unpleasant! In other words, therapeutic and healing.

I finally walked into Ayush here at Vashi after two whole weeks of insomnia thanks to one of the worst attacks of fibromyalgia in recent times. I was tired of living with the pain and not being able to escape for the usual eight hours at night either. I was tired of not sleeping all night and waking up feeling exhausted. and I was tired of the double life I was leading – trying to be “normal” and cheerful through the day while fighting the pain. But that is not new for me, And that is neither here nor there.

At Ayush, I am happy to discover all the familiar and comforting elements – including the smelly oils and the awful kashayams and a doctor with a reassuring heavy Malayalam accent – packaged well and presented in a do-good meets feel-good manner. I have been going there for two days now and I am willing to give the treatment course a chance. As long as the authenticity of the treatment is preserved, I have decided I do not care if the attendants wear spotless uniforms and the medicines are given out in an Ayush branded carry bag (though what is inside is the real thing – as I know from several months of consuming them).

There is something to be said for consistency, a range of such clinics across the country, supported by the solid knowledge of the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy. And who better to take this as a project than Unilever with its distribution reach and range of products that include bestsellers like the safe-for-skin Hamam. Apart from therapies and traditional medicine, they also have a range of products – from the website, the Ayush Spa Range is classified into products that protect (Rakshak), nurture (Poshak) and eliminate or reduce discomfort (Naashak) – and this too I am willing to overlook kindly, having experienced the treatment at the center.